


I Feel Your Pain

by Iamacarrot



Series: We're Twins, I Guess [1]
Category: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Cartoon 2018)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Brotherly Bonding, Brotherly Love, Cutting, Donnie refuses to accept it, Hurt/Comfort, I guess these two are twins now, Leo does Donnie a confusion, Self-Harm, That's cool I guess, twin telepathy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-09-26 10:02:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17139731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iamacarrot/pseuds/Iamacarrot
Summary: Donnie accidentally burns himself during an experiment while the others are out eating, and he's met with an unexpected response to it.





	I Feel Your Pain

**Author's Note:**

> I only rated it M because of the self-harm (warning right there). It isn't even graphic, just one little cut. That's really all.
> 
> Other than that, it's pretty standard. Donnie refusing to have Leo as his twin.

"Damn it!" Donnie hissed, gripping his arm in pain.

The Softshell had burned himself on a heated metal pole, a few tears slipping out of his eyes. Donnie had been having a bit of trouble with his precision, lately, and there was only one reason for it.

Leo.

Donnie had been so focused on insisting that he and Leo were not twins, which is something that Leo always claimed. There was no way! The two didn't even belong in the same genus! So what if they just so happened to hatch at the same time? That didn't make them twins! Leo was just an attention hogger, and all he wanted to do was hear Donnie flip out. Donnie sighed. He wasn't going to get anything done in this state, so, he stood, holding his injured arm and walking into the kitchen.

Maybe a cup of coffee would help him collect himself.

Donnie walked into the kitchen, jumping in surprise as he was met with the sight of Leo, who was fixing a pot of coffee, muttering and whispering in what seemed to be worry.

"Leo? What are you doing here? I thought you were with Raph and Michael." Donnie huffed.

"I felt you burn yourself, and I knew that you needed some coffee to help feel better. So, I left." Leo replied, pouring some coffee into Donnie's favorite coffee cup, handing the cup to the genius.

"That's impossible. You couldn't have  _felt_ me burn myself." Donnie stated.

"Then how did I know that you burned yourself?" Leo asked, crossing his arms.

"Lucky guess." Donnie replied.

"Explain  _this_ , then." Leo instructed, pointing to a burn on his arm that was in the exact spot as Donnie's, and was in the exact state and shape as Donnie's.

"You could have burned yourself on the way here, and it just so happened to be in the exact area." Donnie scoffed.

Leo scowled, grabbing a nearby pan and dropping it on his foot. Donnie shouted in pain, setting his cup down and leaning against a counter. How was this happening?! This was logically impossible!

"There is no logic behind twin telepathy." Leo chimed.

_What the????_

"Look, I don't know what kind of game you're playing, but I want it to stop!" Donnie growled.

"I'm not playing a game! We're twins! It's in our DNA!" Leo whined.

_"WE ARE NOT TWINS! AND WE NEVER WILL BE! IT'S **IMPOSSIBLE**!"_  Donnie screamed.

"No it's  _NOT!_ We  _are_ twins! And you can't deny it!" Leo replied.

"Leonardo, we are two different species of turtle. I am a Softshell, and you are a Red-Eared Slider. Neither of those are even  _closely_ related!" Donnie groaned.

"They could be distant cousins! And we don't have to be the same species to be twins!" Leo claimed.

"You obviously have  _no idea_ how twins work." Donnie muttered.

Leo said nothing, leaning forward and pulling Donnie into a hug. Donnie grunted, pushing Leo back and sneering, his expression softening as he noticed the tears in Leo's eyes. Dear lord. Why was Leo crying over this?

"Leon, we've had this conversation for nine years now. I don't know  _where_ you got this idea of us being twins, but it just  _isn't. True._ You have to accept it." Donnie softly sighed.

"But it  _is!_ And I can prove it!" Leo whimpered.

"How, do you plan on doing that?" Donnie asked, exasperation clear in his voice.

"I can read your mind! Twins can talk to each other through brain waves! I saw it on a documentary!" Leo replied.

Donnie opened his mouth to reply, but decided that Leo was already upset enough. So, Donnie allowed Leo to give things a go.

_'I can't believe I'm letting this happen. It's like he really thinks that he can do this...'_   Donnie thought to himself, sighing.

_'I CAN! See?! I'm doing it right now!'_

Donnie reeled back, heart racing as he looked at Leo, who was smiling widely.

"See? I did it! I can talk to you through telepathy! That  _proves_ that we're twins!" Leo excitedly stated.

Okay, that was weird. But there was no way that this impressive feat proved that Donnie and Leo were twins. No matter what Leo thought, Donnie knew the truth. None of the brothers were biologically related. They simply loved each other enough to be called brothers. They would do anything for each other, and that's why they referred to themselves as family.

"Leo, I'm sorry. But it just. Isn't. True." Donnie sighed, grabbing his coffee cup and turning away from Leo.

The Slider said nothing, hugging himself and walking to his room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I'm  _so_ gonna win!" Mikey shouted, leaning to the side as he played Mario Kart against Leo.

"I'd like to see you try, baby bro! I'm the Kart Master!" Leo replied.

"Well, this master is about to go down! Last lap!" Mikey giggled, doing his very best to pass Leo.

However, Leo held his title as the Kart Master in the end.

"Good game." Mikey chuckled, squealing in surprise as Leo started to tickle him. "NO! STOP IT! RAPH! HE'S MURDERING ME WITH TICKLES!"

Raph chuckled, watching as Mikey and Leo rolled around, laughing and shouting with glee. For the past few days, Leo had started to become more affectionate towards Mikey, and had started to back down on the pranks that he was oh-so known for. It confused everyone, but no one complained about it.

"I'm gonna tickle you to death!" Leo shouted, holding Mikey close.

"Hah! Not unless I use my super power! Cuddle Power! ACTIVATE!" Mikey screamed, tackling Leo onto the floor.

"AAAAHHHH! The cuteness is too much to bear! I think I'm gonna die! Blegh." Leo groaned, falling limp.

Mikey snickered, sitting up and frowning as Leo didn't move. With a worried whine, Mikey tapped Leo's cheek, becoming fearful that he'd actually killed his immediate older brother.

"Leo? Leo! Come on! I was just playing a game!" Mikey whimpered.

Leo smiled, opening an eye and patting Mikey's head reassuringly.

"I know, buddy." Leo chimed.

"Oh, thank goodness! I thought I had killed you! I thought you were dead! You stopped moving!" Mikey gasped.

"Yep. It's called, acting." Leo replied.

"It's called, being a jerk." Donnie commented as he walked into the living room.

Leo frowned, gently urging Mikey away before standing and walking off. Mikey hummed in confusion. What was that all about? Leo was perfectly fine until Donnie... showed... up...

"Did you tell him you weren't twins, again?!" Mikey asked, looking up at Donnie angrily.

"Oh,  _COME ON!_ Not you too!" Donnie groaned, having sworn that this matter had been dropped.

"Donnie, you  _know_ how upset this makes Leo." Raph sighed.

"So what?! If he wants to cry his days away because of the truth, then I say, let him go ahead!" Donnie scoffed.

"...Wait... you think that he just cries?" Mikey asked.

"What else could he possibly do?" Donnie asked.

Mikey whimpered, looking to the floor and sniffling. Raph looked to a nearby wall before sighing.

"He's been doing more than crying for the past nine years..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Leo grunted as he dragged a sharp blade against his upper thigh, sighing as the pain faded. He had read about how self-harm affected the brain. It released something called endorphins, which helped calm people down.

And Leo liked having something to calm himself down.

A knock on his door made Leo jump. Leo moved quickly, hiding his blade, and doing his best to clean his wound, gasping as his door was opened. When he saw who had opened the door, Leo averted his eyes, knowing that he was about to be lectured. He could already hear it now-

"I hate to admit it, but for once, I feel what you're doing." Donnie sighed.

Leo looked to the genius, seeing the tears that were starting to slide down Donnie's cheeks.

"I didn't think that you would." Leo muttered, limping over to his bed and sitting down.

"I didn't think that you were capable of doing something like this. So, we were both oblivious to something." Donnie replied, moving up to Leo and sitting down as well, both hissing in pain as they felt Leo's wound start to burn. "Why would you do this?"

"It helps me feel better." Leo replied softly.

"But it's not healthy." Donnie stated.

"I know... but, what else am I supposed to do? I don't have anyone to talk to! And you wouldn't listen, even if I used telepathy!" Leo huffed, starting to cry as well.

"Leo, hurting yourself because of the truth won't make you any more right about this." Donnie chided.

"Do you see?!  _THAT RIGHT THERE,_ is why I don't want to talk to you! Everything is nothing more than logic and technicalities! How come you allow Mikey and Raph refer to you as a brother, when you don't even want to be remotely related to  _ME?!_ How is that fair?! I love you just as much as they do, but all you want to do is turn me away! Is it because of what I am?! If that's it, then you can do some experiment to change me! If it's because of how I act, I can change! I can change until you love me too!" Leo sobbed.

Donnie sat, shocked. Leonardo, the laid-back jokester of the family, was really sitting here, pleading for Donnie's approval. Leo was claiming that he would change so that Donnie would accept him. Leo was willing to give up his own identity, just so he could become Donnie's technical twin.

"Why is this so important to you?" Donnie simply asked.

"Because, when you see me as your twin, you'll finally love me..." Leo whimpered.

Donnie could give no immediate reply.

"When you finally admit that we're twins, then you can finally treat me like you treat Mikey. You'll want us to bond, and you'll want me to go with you places. I can learn about science if you want me to, I promise!"

"...Leo..." Donnie whispered.

_"PLEASE! I can change!"_   Leo pleaded.

"Leo." Donnie repeated, a bit louder.

"I SWEAR! I can-"

"LEON!" Donnie screamed.

Leo silenced, sniffling and whimpering. Donnie sighed, before smiling, looking to Leo with a soft gaze.

"We can be twins. And you don't have to change." Donnie assured.

Leo gasped, throwing himself onto Donnie and crying greatly, nuzzling into Donnie's neck and holding back an excited snort.

"We're twins now." Leo whispered.

"...We were always twins." Donnie replied.

"I love you." Leo whispered cautiously.

"I love you more." Donnie replied.

"I love you times infinity." Leo sighed.

"Well, I don't think I can top that." Donnie chuckled, hugging Leo closer.

It was neat, having a twin.


End file.
